1 March 2012
by aadarshinah
Summary: After 16 years, the Stargate Program is finally revealed. More or Less.  Future!fic for the Ancient!John 'verse . Contains blink-and-you-miss-it Sam/Jack, ans spoilers thru S8 SG1.
1. 1

1 March 2012

or

_Patefacti_

An Ancient!John Story

a TRANSCRIPT of the

DEPARTMENT OF HOMEWORLD SECURITY

address to the UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

and the PEOPLE OF EARTH

_[with annotations by the transcriber]_

01 March 2012 – 0800 EST

UN General Assembly Hall

[_Music plays across the empty stage – the "Adagio" from Aram Khachaturian's ballet _Gayane.]

[_After a few bars, the room quiets and two dozen heads of state – to include the President of the United States; the British, Russian, and French Prime Ministers; and the Premier of China_ – _enter the room, situating themselves in the chairs at the back of the dais. None come forward to take any of the three podiums set up downstage._]

_[Midway through the "Adagio," the music cuts out and the noise in the room slowly falls. At it's nadir, three people enter from upstage right: DOCTOR DANIEL JACKSON, GENERAL JACK O'NEILL, and BRIGADIER GENERAL SAMANTHA CARTER_, _who take the podiums at downstage right, centre, and left respectively.]_

JACKSON: Hello. _[Jackson is a forty-six-year-old doctor of archaeology, anthropology, and linguistics. His suit is dark grey, his tie dark purple; his hair a greying brown. Behind wire-rimmed glasses, he blinks fastidiously for the first three minutes of his presentation, but, after that, appears to blink not enough.] _I'm Doctor Daniel Jackson. To my right are Generals Jack O'Neill and Samantha Carter of the United States Air Force, and we are here to speak to you today about a recently declassified military research program codenamed 'Star Gate.' Our assistants will now hand out the prepared briefing materials, but – and I cannot stress this enough – we ask that you do not ask questions until the end of our presentation. We will take the time to answer any and all questions you have, only, again, we wait until we open the floor to ask them.

[_Jackson gestures to the dozen or so military attaches across the room, who begin handing thick manilla envelopes to the members of the GENERAL ASSEMBLY and the gathered members of THE PRESS. While there is some murmur as the various members open their packets, there are no voiced questions. Jackson appears pleased by this as he turns to the note cards in his hand.]_

JACKSON: In 1928, an artefact was uncovered by at a dig site near the Pyramid of Khufu by Professor Paul Langford. Its initial purpose and use was unknown, and it was brought back to the United States for further study. The device, which stood at 6.7 metres tall and weighed twenty-nine tonnes, was eventually discovered to contain the means of creating a stable, artificial wormhole to other devices like it throughout the Milky Way.

CARTER: The device – termed a Stargate – is part of a network of approximately three hundred thousand such devices scattered across our galaxy, allowing users to cross up to a hundred thousand light-years in a single step.

_ [Carter is forty-three-years-old and has been an Air Force officer for half of those – and a mother for the last six. Underneath her sharply-tailored dress blues and the heavy weight of service medals, she is clearly a beautiful woman, but starting to show both her years and her lifestyle. There's a touch of crow's-feet to her eyes, a liberal streaking of grey in her otherwise blonde hair. Despite all this, she is still a devastatingly beautiful woman, whose looks are rivalled only by her brains. She holds a doctorate in astrophysics, a masters in mechanical engineering, and a the command of a posting which, while highly classified, is known to be the destination of a large chunk of the armed forces' research and development budgets._]

While this may seem fantastic, the United States Air Force has been using this device successfully to travel to other planets for the last sixteen years. Do the rapidly expanding breadth of the Startgate Program, this briefing only covers the first half of our operations – which is to say, the declassification of nearly all of the missions run by Stargate Command between 27 July, 1996 and 3 July, 2005. And while, yes, there are a number of significant gaps in the materials now being handed to you – especially for June 2004 onwards, – this is done, not to hide our actions from the public at large any longer, but because we felt it was best to declassify the Stargate Program incrementally, and hope to make public the rest of our operations sometime within the next twelve to twenty-four months.

[_There is some murmuring of discontent, of disbelief, of concern from the crowd. But, for the most part, the GENERAL ASSEMBLY and THE PRESS both appear to be in too much a stunned silence to do more than make these noises. The air of the Assembly Hall is one of uncertain anticipation rather than outrage, though the line is fine and growing thinner with each passing moment_.]

JACKSON: The Stargates were created approximately sixty-five million years ago by a race of people known as the Ancients, who came to our galaxy following a thousand-year civil war in their own they called the _Schisma_. They settled on Earth and chose to seed life in their image upon our planet, guiding our evolution until, eventually, we reached a form not unlike their own. They also seeded the galaxy with Stargates, and sent out ships to seed both life and Stargates there as well.

The Ancients were not alone in the universe, however, and, while exceptionally scientifically advanced, were not invulnerable, and in the year 8451 BC began to experience a plague the likes of which they had never seen. After a century of trying to combat it, those of their species left this planet and this galaxy for elsewhere, leaving behind a few of their artefacts – including the Stargates – and the species they had created – humanity, or Terrans, as they called us.

In the year 8177 BC, Earth was rediscovered by alien entities – this time by a race of parasitic beings known as the goa'uld who fancied themselves gods and pretended to be characters out ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Babylonian mythology to control us.

O'NEILL: The goa'uld are power hungry bastards.

[_O'Neill is something of an unknown amongst the figures on the stage. Whereas Jackson and Carter have both been nervous and, overall, dead serious while saying their bits, O'Neill has and continues to look faintly bored by the whole proceeding. He has four stars on each shoulder and more medals than one would think possible to pin to one jacket-front, and the stern, faintly disproving expression one would expect of a man of his rank. He's almost sixty, has served in more wars than most people can readily name, and has retired twice – or so the rumours go – only to be called back into service, his skills are so invaluable. But as to what his skills actually are, no one appears quite sure – not even now, when it's clear that he's clearly some bigwig in the newly-revealed Stargate Program.]_

_ [Jackson, for instance, is clearly the archaeological/historical/linguistic brains behind the operation and, for all that he is still faintly ridiculed for his 1992 book _The Truth About The Pyramids, _he's been regaining esteem in his field for several years, particularly since the fall of 2010, when he was hired to teach various ancient history and language courses at the United States Air Force Academy, which is notorious for hiring nothing but the best. To those familiar with his field, he's a little bit of a superstar.]_

_ [The story is similar with Carter – she's the scientific brains behind it all, even if so much of her research is classified that she's not published anything in years, though she's known to be a close personal friend to Chern Medal winners John Sheppard and Rodney McKay, who have (the former even going to far as to dedicate his revolutionary monograph, _On the Distribution of Primes in Riemann Zeta Functions, _to her), rather profusely.]_

_ [So there is clearly something more to O'Neill than is first obvious. With digging, it's possible to come up with a few details – that he's a masters in aerospace engineering; that he once (accidentally) sent a yo-yo through a glass pane in the White House, breaking several irreplaceable pieces of Van Buren family china; that he's been married to Carter for more years than are strictly in accordance with military law – but nothing substantial.]_

JACKSON: Yes, thank you, Jack. As I was saying, the goa'uld are a race of sentient parasitic aliens who discovered Earth in 8177 BC and posed as our gods for a large part of our history, transporting many of their worshippers to other worlds be their slaves there. A rebellion in 3117 BC caused Ra – the goa'uld who controlled Earth at the time, and stood as the... emperor of sorts of the other goa'uld System Lords – to loose control of the Stargate, effectively cutting Earth off from the rest of the universe. Until, with General Carter's help, we were able to determine the means by which the Stargates operate...

O'NEILL: But the science stuff will come later – as I understand it, we've a whole week of _show and tell_ lined up for all interested parties. Mostly, we're here to give you the general overview at the moment, which is basically that, while, yes, we're not alone in the universe, we're more than able to take care of ourselves. We've stopped the end of the world – how many times now, Carter?

CARTER: Fifteen now, sir. [_She says this automatically, clearly not even giving her answer thought until after she's said it. Her eyes dart quickly to O'Neill – who doesn't seem to pay any attention to this at all, save for the way one corner of his mouth quirks slightly higher – before down to her podium before back to the crowd._]

O'NEILL: See, no trouble at all. So, what do we still have to go over?

[_This question appears directed to Jackson, who looks momentarily flustered before glancing down at his note cards. After a moment, he appears to decide they're no longer necessary and tucks them into one of his jacket pockets, before turning with an indulgent, exasperated smile towards downstage centre.]_

JACKSON: Just the uncovering of the cover-ups, really. And there's some more history of the-

O'NEILL: Let's skip the history for now. So... cover-ups, where do we start?

CARTER: That meteor shower in '98 that was really the remains of Apophis' Ha'tak. [_By the conversational tone all three have picked up, it's unclear as to whether any of them still remember their audience, the press, or the television cameras.]_

O'NEILL: Wasn't that 2000?

JACKSON: No, that was a decommissioned satellite and the remains of the _Beliskner_.

CARTER: I think he means the Ha'tak with Thor's consciousness on board that showed up in '02.

JACKSON: [_Frowning.] _Hmm. I don't remember that one.

O'NEILL: Of course not. You were doing the whole _white light_ thing then.

JACKSON: Which reminds me, what did we tell people about the Battle of Antarctica?

CARTER: Training exercise.

JACKSON: In Antarctica?

O'NEILL: _Multinational _training exercise.

JACKSON: Huh. And people bought that one? [_Jackson blinks and turns slightly, which seems to remind him that he's in a room with over two hundred people in it, almost all of whom are rapidly moving from stunned silence to variously vocal levels of disbelief_.] But, er, Jack's right. There's plenty of time next week to go over the details. So, keeping that in mind, uh, are there any questions?

[_The room erupts with noise._]

END TRANSCRIPT


	2. 1 point 5

**01 March 2012 – 0833 EST**

UN General Assembly Hall

[_The room erupts with noise. Shouts from every corner, in every language imaginable, fill the air.]_

_[The security personnel for the various heads of state are starting to grow visibly anxious, their hands going reflexively to both their guns and their earwigs, ready to shoot or call in reinforcements if need be. The fact that their 'targets' are a combination of UN ambassadors and member nations' heads of state seem to matter very little to them at the moment – though, given the slightly mobish air to the room, it's an understandable oversight.]_

_[The two dozen heads of state on the dais – to include the PRESIDENTS OF BRAZIL, FRANCE, INDONESIA, MEXICO, RUSSIA, SOUTH AFRICA, SOUTH KOREA, and the UNITED STATES; the PRIME MINISTERS OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRIA, CANADA, EGYPT, FRANCE, GERMANY, INDIA, ISRAEL, JAPAN, NEW ZEALAND, RUSSIA, SAUDI ARABIA, TURKEY, the UNITED ARAB EMIRATES, and the__UNITED KINGDOM; and the PREMIER OF CHINA – are starting to become, if not outwardly anxious, than decidedly uncomfortable with the way the briefing has progressed thus far. It is clear that more than one of them had expected the announcement that not only was humanity not alone in the universe, but they had been engaging with it for almost two decades now, to have gone much smoother than it so far has.]_

_[The speakers at the podiums – JACKSON, O'NEILL, and CARTER_ – _watch with varying degrees of toleration, trepidation, and annoyance, until, at last, from downstage centre-_]

O'NEILL: Everybody. [_He scolds less than shouts.]_ Shut. The hell. Up.

[_It is also more than clear that the various high-ranking officials in the room are decidedly _not_ used to being spoken to in this matter, but it gets O'NEILL the result he was undoubtedly wanting.]_

O'NEILL: Try to remember you're on television. [_He gestures towards one of the camera set-ups just to the left of the stage.]_ Live, probably, too. So try to act like you're actually worthy of your peoples' votes, at least until the cameras are turned off.

[_CARTER_ _snorts at this, the noise loud enough to be picked up her microphone.]_

_[O'NEILL waggles his eyebrows at her.]_

JACKSON: [_Pointedly clearing his throat_.] Yes, well, it appears that this is not going to be the appropriate forum for a Q & A... So why don't we let everyone take a look at the briefing packet and we'll have some sort of panel or something set up by, oh, noon or so for those of you who want it. And, for those of you who don't, I know that several members of the group behind me are planning on giving an address at five tonight, so...

[_The room erupts into noise again as those on dais are ushered out by members of security.]_

END TRANSCRIPT

* * *

><p><strong>an: **A transitional peice, with the promise SGA cast will appear in part 2.

And, also, because people really wanted more of this. I spent more time than I should trying to figure out just who would be the 2dozen on the dias, and, yes, realize I've given both France and Russia a president _and_ prime minister - done so because both posts are important in their respective goverments, and it seemed appropriate


	3. 2

**1 March 2012 **

[Part 2]

An Ancient!John Story

* * *

><p>a TRANSCRIPT of the<p>

DEPARTMENT OF HOMEWORLD SECURITY

question and answer session for

the PEOPLE OF EARTH

_[with annotations by the transcriber]_

* * *

><p><strong>01 March 2012 – 1202 EST<strong>

**U Thant Meeting Hall**

_[The hall is brimming to capacity but eerily silent, the only sounds being the occasional murmur of apology as someone works his or her way down the hastily prepared aisles to a seat further down and the omnipresent rustle of paper as the information packets the military attaches had passed out earlier are read and reread. Members of nearly every major news organization are present, waiting.]_

_[It's oddly restrained for a day that will forever be remembered in history as the day humanity learns it's not alone in the universe. But, then again, the loudest of the doom-sayers had been politely escorted out of the General Assembly by military police, and those who remain are smart enough to hold back their opinions, whatever they may be, until such a time as they can be answered. Or televised as being denied answers.]_

_[There is a dais at one end of the room and, on it, a generic, blue-bunted conference table with seats for six. Four of these have engraved nameplates set in front of them and read, from stage left to stage right: _Col. Cameron Mitchell, Commander, SG-1; Dr. Daniel Jackson, US Air Force Academy, SG-1 (ret.); Brig. Gen. Samantha Carter, Commander, Stargate Command; _and _Gen. Jack O'Neill, Commander, Dept. of Homeworld Security. _The other two, located at either end of the table, each have a small stack of card paper and a black marker in front of them, presumably so that whoever may sit there can make their own.]_

_[The meeting was supposed to start at noon. THE PRESS is getting restless.]_

_[At 1204, three people – COLONEL CAMERON MITCHELL, DOCTOR DANIEL JACKSON, and BRIGADIER GENERAL SAMANTHA CARTER – enter from stage left and take their seats.]_

JACKSON: Sorry about that. _[Whatever has happened behind scenes in the last four hours, Jackson has somewhat lost his earlier exuberance – and his tie – during it. Still, with a grin that doesn't quite reach his eyes,]_ Jack – General O'Neill – is caught up in a meeting with some heads of state, so he's running a little late, so I thought we could take the time to reintroduce ourselves. I know you all have questions, so we'll try to be brief... Cam, you want to go first?

MITCHELL: Okay. _[Mitchell, however, looks like he'd rather do anything but. He's forty-one, but there's something about him that seems incredibly boyish compared to the others. He's all dark hair (in a close military cut) and straight lines and crisp corners, in a way that seems almost a hollow imitation of officers like O'Neill and Carter, who, while not the cookie-cutter ideal of what an United States Air Force officer should be, seem far the more capable.]_ Well, I'm Colonel Cam Mitchell, US Air Force. I've been with SG-1 for six, almost seven years now.

JACKSON: Okay then, _[Jackson says after a moment, seemingly put out that Mitchell had been quite that brief,]_ I'm Doctor Daniel Jackson, and I've been with the Stargate Program since it's inception back in '96. I was on SG-1 – that's the name for Stargate Command's flagship team – until I retired to teach at the Air Force Academy in August of 2010. I'm still involved in the research side of things, though, and do a lot of contract work for Homeworld Security. _[He looks at Carter meaningfully.]_

CARTER: I'm Brigadier General Samantha Carter. _[Like Jackson, she looks more harried than before, with more wisps of hair escaping its bun than being contained by it.]_ I was originally brought on in to design and program the dialling computer we use to dial our Gate, in lieu of a DHD, but was a member of SG-1 from 1997 to 2007, the last three of those as its commanding officer. From December 2008 until December of last year I was CO of the _USS George Hammond_, one of our 304s. Since then, I've held command of the SGC.

REPORTER 1: And from '07 to '08? _[Shouts an indistinct female voice from the back of the hall.]_

CARTER: _[Grimly,]_ That's classified. And I'd ask that you please keep your questions to yourself until such a time as you're called upon. We plan on taking as many questions as possible before the Heads of States' press conference at 1700, but will only be able to do so if everyone continues to behave in a calm and orderly manner. _[She looks at her watch, biting her lower lip.]_ And it looks like Jack's still running late... So do we just want to get started?

JACKSON: Sure... Though, let me just add for the benefit of those who might've skipped the bio section of their packet, Jack – General O'Neill – has also been with the Stargate Program since the beginning. He was in charge of the first Abydos mission, and headed SG-1 for seven years. He headed Stargate Command for the last half of '04 and most of '05, before taking over the Department of Homeworld Security – which, at the time, was part of the Department of Defence, but has been it's own department ever since the 2010 restructuring...

MITCHELL: _[Grinning at the crowd,]_ Don't call him _Secretary_ though.

CARTER: _[Raising her eyes heavenward,]_ Yes, please, don't.

JACKSON: Be that as it may, we've plenty of other things to go over today... So how about we work our way left to right with the questions, starting in the front row and working our way back? Everyone gets one question to start out with and, if we've time, we'll circle back around.

CARTER: Sounds good to me. So... Specialist? _[She indicates a young man man in formal dress near the front of the room, who promptly delivers the microphone in his keeping to the reporter sitting in the first seat on the front row.]_

REPORTER 2: Bethany Alders for _The Washington Post_. My question is the one everyone's asking: Why now?

MITCHELL: That's an easy one. _[Mitchell says with a laugh that makes him seem far more genial then his starched uniform and shining medals originally would suggest.]_ Basically, it boils down to the fact that the galaxy is currently undergoing a period of unprecedented peace, which everyone involved in the declassification project felt was important to have before we released anything.

REPORTER 2: But-

CARTER: One question per person, please, Ms. Alders.

_[The specialist takes the microphone from REPORTER 2 and hands it to the next.]_

REPORTER 3: Anthony Wilder, _The Times of London_. Colonel Mitchell, you said this is a period of unprecedented_ galactic peace_, yet the debriefing materials make it clear that there have been – and, presumably, still are – several highly advanced races in play. How is Earth prepared to meet these enemies?

JACKSON: Well, I'll let Sam answer the military side of things, but, as Cam said, the Milky Way is entering a period of galactic peace not seen since the Ancients left our galaxy. The goa'uld, who were the only galactic power of any note for the last ten thousand years, are, at this time, all but extinct, with the remaining either being allied forces – the Tok'ra – or minor goa'uld who retain no real military strength. As for the Replicators, we've not encountered any in this galaxy since the Battle of Dakara nearly seven years ago... And, yes, while Earth has faced threats that have not yet been declassified, there have been no significant ones within the last two-and-a-half years.

CARTER: As for how we're prepared to meet these threats... Well, Earth is hardly defenceless. In fact, a large part of the cancellation of the Space Shuttle Program, as well as the planned Constellation Project, has been in anticipation of this declassification.

The United States Air Force, in concert with our allies, currently operate ten 304s – which are to say, _Daedalus-_class deep space carriers. Four more are operated by the PLAAF and VVS, with a fifth, the _Ark Royal_, being constructed for the RAF. Each is capable of carrying carrying sixteen F-302s, which are fighter-interceptor vehicles capable of functioning both in space as well as the upper atmosphere, and are armed, to varying degrees, with railguns, Asgard beam weapons, and nuclear warheads. At any given time, no less than two ships are in orbit of the planet.

Additionally, we maintain several F-302s on secure bases on-planet, and have control of a recovered Ancient weapons platform in the Antarctic, which is one of those things which really has to be seen to believed.

JACKSON: I think they've got some of the _Prometheus_ footage of the Battle of Antarctica in the media packet that we're sending out on Friday.

MITCHELL: That's good. One hell of a fight, but it definitely shows what the Tau'ri can do when we put our mind to it.

CARTER: _[Snorting,] _That's one way of putting it. But, basically, Earth is more than capable of handing any threat that might come against it.

_[The microphone passes right.]_

REPORTER 4: Georg Hirsch, for _Die Zeit_. Isn't the kind of weapons platform you've spoken of a violation of the Antarctic Non-Proliferation Treaty?

CARTER: We've brokered new treaties.

REPORTER 4: But isn't that-?

MITCHELL: Sorry folks, one question per person.

REPORTER 5: Eugenio Biagi, _la Repubblica_. How many other secret treaties have our governments entered into, beyond the blatant disregard for the political neutrality of Antarctica?

JACKSON: _[Mitchell rolls his eyes, but before he can answer, is interrupted by Jackson, who says,] _I assure you, _Signore_ Biagi, that the United Nations has been made aware of all treaties brokered by the SGC. In fact, the International Oversight Advisory that was formed after the discovery of the Antarctic outpost is technically a part of the United Nations, and has been integral to many the Stargate Program's operations since.

_[Questions from Reporters 6 – 21 along with their responses are excised.]_

REPORTER 22: Jane Martin, for _The Denver Post_. The media packet we received speaks of an _Alliance of Four Great Races_. What is this body's response to Earth's growing role in galactic politics?

JACKSON: Well... _[Jackson appears somewhat apprehensive for the first time since this Q & A began, removing his glasses and polishing the lenses on a cloth fished from his pocket. He leaves the cloth on the table after he replaces his glasses and, somewhat haltingly, continues.]_ That's a thorny question. The Alliance still technically exists, but that's mostly as a formality. It was founded twenty-five million years ago by the Ancients and the three most advanced races they encountered after arriving in our galaxy: the Asgard, the Furlings, and the Nox. However, after the Ancients left ten thousand years ago, it sort of... fell apart. When they met, the members still honoured it, but...

CARTER: ...but each of the other three races had problems of their own.

MITCHELL: Yeah, the Asgard had the Replicators, and the Nox had this whole _flower power_ thing going that sorta meant they didn't get involved in anything that wasn't _spiritual enlightenment_ or something like that, and the Furlings... _[Turning towards Jackson, genuinely curious,]_ What was the deal with the Furlings?

JACKSON: From what I'm given to understand, they had a highly segmented society. There were factions that eugenically modified themselves and others that chose to mechanically augment themselves and some that did both and some that did neither, either because they couldn't afford to or thought it was a crime against nature to do so. And all of these factions were constantly at war with each other, forming temporary coalitions that would break with the slightest pressure... They were around for a few centuries after the Ancients left, but fell out of contact in 6311 BC. The Asgard eventually assumed that they had destroyed themselves in civil war, or had else had reduced themselves to such a level that they were no longer capable of space travel.

CARTER: What Daniel is trying to get at is that, basically, for most of recent history the Alliance has been a non-issue.

MITCHELL: The Asgard did make a big deal outta us being _The Fifth Race_ of their little Alliance before-

JACKSON: _[Jackson's hand reaches out and immediately covers Mitchell's microphone. But only Mitchell's. His own remains uncovered and, while Jackson does his best to make it so only Mitchell hears, lip readers and master tape analysers will later confirm that he says,]_ Don't tell them that. The series finale isn't for another two weeks.

MITCHELL: _[With an incredulous look,] _You're concerned about _Wormhole X-treme_ spoilers at a time like this?

JACKSON: _[Jackson frowns, but removes his hand from the microphone, so that what follows is now clearly heard.] _Needless to say, we have a healthy working relationship with the remaining members of the Alliance.

_[Carter snorts.]_

_[Mitchell rolls his eyes.]_

_[Jackson frowns at both of them.]_

_[The microphone is passed to the next reporter.]_

REPORTER 23: Jeremy Atwood, BBC. Speaking of aliens, how many, if any, are currently on Earth at this time?

CARTER: Depends on how you define _alien_. If you're talking about humans born on planets formerly under goa'uld rule, there are about forty, most of whom work for the SGC in some capacity. If you're talking about genuinely _not human_ aliens, well... _[She glances at her watch.]_ Unless Teal'c is running ahead of schedule, there actually aren't any on-world at the moment.

REPORTER 24: Oscar Bunbury, _Mail & Guardian_. This Teal'c is mentioned several times in the packet we were given. Why wasn't he present for the meeting with the General Assembly?

MITCHELL: The big guy has an important day job with the Free Jaffa on Dakara now. He should be here for the President's address later today though, so you'll get to see him then.

_[Carter, as Mitchell speaks, writes something on a piece of paper and, after a waving an adjunct on stage, passes it to him, careful to angle it so the cameras cannot pick up the writing. Whatever it says, the adjunct's whispered response is apparently not to the general's liking, as she frowns as she writes out her response. The adjunct gives a sharp nod and rushes off stage.]_

_[Questions from Reporters 25 – 39 along with their responses are excised.]_

REPORTER 40: Jennifer Knowles, _The Los Angeles Times_. Are you aware of the similarities between this _Stargate Program_ and the Canadian-American science-fiction show _Wormhole X-treme_?

_[Mitchell and Jackson exchange a look that makes on think money would later be changing hands.]_

CARTER: _[With a groan,] _Yes. The Pentagon believed at the time that the show would be a good source of plausible deniability in case someone ever tried to come forward about the Stargate Program. Nobody at the time guessed that the show would be so popular, or so long-run. Least of all anyone at the SGC.

O'NEILL: Oh, I dunno Carter. _[O'Neill says nonchalantly as he enters from state right. Unlike the others, who've long begun to show their weariness, O'Neill appears unaffected by – and uninterested in – the proceedings, despite the fact that, as Jackson mentioned earlier, he's just come from a meeting with two dozen of the world's most influential heads of state.] _It started picking up after the third season.

CARTER: Whatever you say, Sir. _[Carter ducks her head and, briefly, grins at O'Neill, who grins back.]_ How did your meeting go?

O'NEILL: Oh, you know how politicians get when they feel they've been backed into a corner... _[O'Neill unbuttons the jacket of his dress blues before taking his seat at the table.]_ They've decided to eighty-six the plans they've spent the last five years pulling together and have us go ahead and make the announcement about phase two now.

CARTER: _[With obvious disbelief, the gathered members of THE PRESS completely forgotten.]_ Seriously?

O'NEILL: Seriously.

JACKSON: But we don't have any of the materials – or the people-_ [Jackson protests.]_

O'NEILL: Being called in as we speak.

CARTER: You mean...?

MITCHELL: _[Leaning back in his seat,_] Oh boy.

_[And then a white light envelops the upstage.]_

END TRANSCRIPT

* * *

><p><strong>an: **PLAAF, VVS, and RAF are the Chinese, Russian, and British Air Forces respectively.


End file.
